Yellowstone Day 2

Here's what we woke up to on our second day in Yellowstone:

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This guy was really big -- bigger than he looks here, because the camera always subtracts 400 pounds. Lena did not like it. She just wanted him to leave.

After that excitement, we had breakfast, and Lena found that with some Benadryl she could keep her sneezing to a minimum. Things were looking much brighter, so we stopped thinking about getting home, and went back to enjoying the trip.

First we went on an 18-mile bike ride on the road from Norris to Madison (in Yellowstone).





Next, we got back to the car, and drove off to look for showers and laundromat.

There are a lot of tourists at Yellowstone even though this is the low season.

We've hit a kind of scenic saturation on this trip, having seen so many incredible landscapes, but we could still enjoy the views here. Here are some shots from the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone."


Since it looks so much like a painting, I photoshopped it so that it would look even more like a painting.


We hit a lot of overlooks and short trails, paint pots, and geysers, and finally retired back to the campsite. Looks like it was chili with embedded Triscuits and turkey franks today. The campground was strangely deserted -- the tents and RVs were there, but I guess everyone was still out sightseeing.

After dinner Lena knitted, but the smoke from our campfire and several others was getting to be too much, so I took a walk down to relax by the Gibbon River.

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We slept well again, thanks to our wonderful earplugs. The trick with these is to take a few weeks to get used to them before the trip. Otherwise, they are uncomfortable after a few hours.

By inserting them quite deeply, I'm able to eliminate all sound. As they expand, the noise of the toddler in the neighboring site playing the harmonica (more breathing in and out through the harmonica than "playing") gradually recedes until it is gone completely. This works for generators, loud talking, and music as well. I took them out at about 2 AM, but due to the snoring from a neighboring tent, I put them back in.

We have good luck and bad luck tomorrow. Stay tuned.